Supporting Mental Health Initiatives in the Ithaca Community

Stories

“I need to talk about it so other people can talk about it.” — Padriac Lillis on writing and performing in a play about suicide.

Episode 6 of Michayla Savitt’s The Scoop on Mental Health features Brooklyn-based artistic director Padriac Lillis, who discusses Hope You Get To Eleven, his play inspired by a former student’s suicide and his own struggle with depression. In “Nobody Talks About This,” Padriac explores the emotional process of bringing the difficult subject matter to the stage. “I have a story to tell, not because it’s my story, because I need to talk about it so other people can talk about it,” he says.

“You’re never not yourself.” — Actor Brooke Shilling on mental health and the art of performing

In Episode 5 of The Scoop on Mental Health, Michayla sits down with Brooke Shilling, an actress who delves into the mental energy and awareness needed when she’s performing. In “Check it at the Door,” Brooke describes the difficulty of putting real life aside when she has a role to play, but how she holds onto her own experiences in that process. “Transformative acting is amazing, but you’re never not yourself,” Brooke says. “We are the sum of our own experiences even when portraying experiences and people that we’re not.”

Actor Brooke Shilling discusses the effect acting has on mental health—it’s not easy to put aside your life when you’re performing, yet holding onto experiences helps her bring real life to her characters.

In Episode 4 of The Scoop on Mental Health podcast, Michayla meets Chris Biehn, who describes how bipolar disorder has affected his quality of life and how he has found the strength to inspire others as a mental health advocate. In “Finding Hope in a Colorless World,” we hear about the onset of Chris’s mental illness, the benefits of being candid about his struggle, and the campaign he launched to promote mood disorders acceptance. “The most meaningful connections are made when we’re vulnerable,” Chris tell us. “Find people you can be vulnerable with, so you can have those really neat, deep, and meaningful friends.”

Chris Biehn

“Finding Hope in a Colorless World” [Episode 4] ListenChris Biehn relates how living with bipolar disorder inspires him to help others with their own mental health struggles.

For Episode 3 of The Scoop on Mental Health podcast, host Michayla Savitt returns home to hear a very personal story: her own mom’s experience of living with a mental illness for most of her life—but never receiving the right treatment to live life to the fullest. In “I Reached Rock Bottom,” Amy Savitt walks us through the incredibly difficult struggle that finally led her to getting a correct diagnosis and proper treatment. As Amy tells Michayla, “It’s being able to wake up in the morning and look at yourself in the mirror and say, ‘I’m O.K. I’m here for a reason, I’m alive, and I’m gonna make it happen.’”

Amy Savitt

“I Reached Rock Bottom” [Episode 3] ListenAmy Savitt recounts her journey to getting the proper help for her mental illness after being misdiagnosed for almost her entire life.

In the second episode of Michayla Savitt’s podcast The Scoop on Mental Health, we hear the story of Scott Fried, an incredible man who decided to devote his life to volunteer service after being diagnosed with HIV/AIDS three decades ago. “We’re Here for a Reason” tells a remarkable tale of loss, forgiveness, and self-love, culminating in Scott’s mission to help others with self-acceptance and promote safe-sex education. As Scott tells Michayla: “There is inside of each of us an innate worth, an innate sense of goodness and value, that can never, never, ever be unfriended, or undone, or blocked, or just missed, or ghosted, or benched, or ignored.”

Scott Fried

“We’re Here for a Reason” [Episode 2]ListenScott Fried explains how getting infected with HIV/AIDS led him to start a life of preaching messages of self-worth and love to people around the world.